AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Letting out a deep whoop, B.J. triumphantly tossed her fist in the air. “Yes!” she hollered, then stood and stubbed out her cigar. “Boys,” she told the table of men as she leaned over to rake in her booty. “It’s been a pleasure.”
“Well, what’d you have?” Ralphie demanded.
When she ignored him, he surged to his feet and reached across the table to snag her cards. B.J. let him have at them.
He stared at them with a saggy jaw a good five seconds before he yelped, “A pair of twos? A pair of twos!”
B.J. beamed and sent him a two-fingered salute. “What can I say? My lucky number’s two. And when I get two twos, I fi
gure, hell. . . Might as well bluff, huh?”
Ralphie’s face turned flamingo bright. He threw his hat off, exposing a head three-quarters gone bald. “I had three jacks!”
B.J. whistled, impressed. “Gee, then maybe you shouldn’t have forfeited,” she told him. “Oh, and by the way, I’m free tomorrow afternoon. Will that be a good time for me to swing my truck by for the new tires?”
Ralphie was so flustered he couldn’t even talk. Finally, he turned to his father. “What the hell’s the matter with you? ‘B.J.’s betting free service. She must have a good hand,’” he mimicked. “Good hand my ass.”
“Oh, cry me a river, Ralphie,” B.J. butted in, stuffing her new wad of money into her back pocket. “You threw in your hand.”
“I’m never playing poker with you again.” He sounded like a scorned child who’d just had his ice cream cone taken away.
“I won fair and square.” She glanced toward his dad. “You see me cheat?”
Pete shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
B.J. snorted. “Ma’am? Who the hell are you calling ma’am? Your old lady just walk in?”
While Pete chuckled, B.J. finally returned her attention to Grady. He’d been passively watching the scene. She had no idea what was going on behind those cool blue eyes of his.
Ignoring the insistent tug in her loins, she arched him a look. “Let me grab my gear, Slim, and I’ll be ready to go. ’Kay?”
He nodded, and she left Ralphie to complain to the others. She wouldn’t be surprised if he reneged on the tires. But if he managed to cough them up, then hey, that’d be okay too. She wasn’t too concerned about it. She’d won fair and square, that was all that mattered to her.
She was still glowing over her victory when she came strolling out of the back room with her cap on forward and her dark hair pulled through the hole in the back. Wearing reflecting aviator glasses and chewing on sour apple bubble gum, she slung a beat-up green duffle over her shoulder and led Grady toward her plane.
Since his meeting was supposed to last late into the evening, this was going to be an overnight run. Ready for a long, boring stay in her hotel room, she climbed into the opened back doorway of her plane. After tossing her gear inside toward a corner, she looked over her shoulder at Grady, still standing on the tarmac behind her.
“Ready?” she asked, giving him one last chance to make a pit stop before they went wheels up.
Again, he merely nodded. B.J. held a hand down to him. He frowned at her palm, looking confused.
“Your bag?” she prompted.
He lifted his clear blue gaze and quietly said, “I got it.”
She barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Now there was an honest to God gentleman for you. He’d probably cut off his arm before letting some woman lift his load.
Shrugging, she muttered, “Suit yourself,” and slithered inside the belly of the plane, leaving Mr. Gentleman to follow. She settled into the cockpit, tugged on her headset, and checked the panel controls. Just as she started the engine, Grady slid into the seat beside her, grabbing his own headset.
She glanced over and thought, Holy Hell. How was she supposed to make it through an hour-long ride with him alone in such a tiny space and be expected to keep her hands to herself?
Chapter Two
Having already walked through her pre-flight inspection before the poker game, B J. was ready for takeoff. Daring a second glance Grady’s way as he pulled on his safety harness, she told herself to focus her attention on her job. But she’d never felt someone’s presence so much in her life; it made her want to crawl out of her skin.
Assuming a joke would help her little funk, she watched him situate his seatbelt into place and said, “That’s not going to do you much good if we crash.”
At his short frown, she cleared her throat and quickly turned away. Loudly popping her gum, she released the brakes, and they slowly rolled forward.
